Embers: The Light in Your Shadow

Sixteen

I arrived at the De Luca mansion at 9:39 at night (3:39am Rome time). I sluggishly dragged my suitcase along the gravel and rang the doorbell. Every childhood memory was lost to the flames. Nothing was salvageable. I had nothing, and I found myself crawling back to Cesare once again. He wasn't here, of course; none of them were. It had something to do with a state dinner.

The butler let me in, and I thanked him. I prayed, took a shower, ate some food, prayed some more and went to sleep in Cesare's bed. Being surrounded in his scent gave me some peace.

**

Cesare's POV:

I was in the middle of a meeting when I felt Savannah's anxiety spike. Her sadness was powerful; she was probably just nervous about moving so far from her family again. Lorenzo must've felt it too, for he excused himself to make a call. He came back a couple of minutes later, but he didn't say anything.

The meeting finished an hour later, and I made a quick call to my fiancée. It had gone straight to voicemail, but I forced myself not to jump to conclusions. "What was that about?" I asked Lorenzo.

"Just checking on Savannah..." He replied with a small smile. "Do we have to go to the state dinner tonight?"

"Ma will kill us if we don't." I chuckled. "And I for one am not trying to die before my wedding."

Lorenzo patted my shoulders. "I'm so proud of you. You've come a long way."

I smiled at him. "Thanks. I couldn't have done it without your help." We hugged and then left for the salon. Our Mother would want us to look our very best for tonight. I just wished Savannah could be here. I would love to show her off to everyone. She is the love of my life, and I'm so glad that she didn't give up on me.
___

When we arrived at the state dinner, everyone with money and power was there. I hated this. Ma used to make us go to these things when we were younger. Sometimes we didn't leave until 5 in the morning. It was the worst. Of course, there were other kids we could be mischievous with as the night went on.

"Kids will be kids." The Governor's wife used to say, as the mothers surrounding her would laugh in agreement.

The night was still young. The Mancini's walked in, and I noticed how Lorenzo gasped. "I just found my soulmate." I looked at the girl with an olive skin tone. She was a short woman, but Lorenzo liked his women to be shorter than him. Initially I tried to get him to talk to the girl, but it turns out he didn't need my help.

Paolo walked over to Lorenzo and me and greeted us. We weren't friends, but we were working on fixing the bridge that was broken years ago. "Cesare, Lorenzo... this is my girlfriend Ashley and her best friend Amina." Lorenzo couldn't stop staring at Amina.

"Amina..." He said her name like it was the best thing since sliced bread.

I greeted Ashley and Amina. "It's nice to meet you both."

"Where's Savannah?" Paolo asked, looking around for her.

"She's in the States packing her things. She'll be moving here in a month for our wedding." I smiled as thoughts of her warmed my heart.

He nodded. We had a talk when Savannah was still in the hospital. Paolo apologized for everything he ever did wrong against me and my family. It was hard to forgive him at first, but I didn't want to be bitter anymore. So, seeing him here with a girlfriend of his own made me happy, and now Lorenzo found his future standing before him.

Speaking of Lorenzo, I glanced to the left of me, and he was gone. My smile widened as I had seen him dancing with Amina. Well that didn't take long. I excused myself and found my older sister Giuliana. My niece Gabriella jumped in my arms. "How's my favorite niece?"